Begonia plant named ‘Star of David’

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct cultivar of Begonia rex plant, named ‘Star of David’, characterized by its juvenile flowers being a mutation with large, forty-flower clusters, resistance to disease, insects, and dampness, improved resistance to cold, and possessing a year-round duration of the flowering season.

Variety denomination: The present invention relates to a new anddistinct cultivar of Begonia rex plant botanically known as Begonia rexhybrid, referred to by the name of ‘Star of David’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The new Begonia rex was discovered and selected by the Inventor in acontrolled environment in Oviedo, Fla., in 1998, and is at presentgrowing in a controlled environment in Leesburg, Fla.

The Inventor has been growing a Begonia he collected in Venezuela in1983. That plant is not known by the Inventor to be patented, nor is itknown to be the subject of a pending U.S. patent application. In 1998the Inventor noticed a sport on the original cultivar, consisting of asingle stem that developed significantly larger flower clusters. Theclusters on this stem routinely contained forty or more flowers,compared with the six to eight normally produced by the original parentplant that had been collected. The Inventor selectively propagated thestem (sport) by vegetative stem cuttings. The sport was discovered andpropagated at 5344 Rockinghorse Place, Oviedo, Fla. 32765. All theresulting plants have maintained the large flower clusters like theoriginal sport. The Inventor has been privately propagating andevaluating the inventive plant for 4-5 years. The Inventor has in thattime determined that the improved traits were stable, the instant plantretaining its distinctive characteristics and reproducing true to typein successive generations.

The parent cultivar may be described as follows:

Flowers: 10-14 flowers per cyme (female) and 4-6 flowers per cyme(male), with 2-3 cymes per adult plant. Adult and juvenile plants hadthe same small number of flowers per cyme. Perennial; 2-3 cymes perplant per year for many years observed.

Plant form: Upright and mounding, with stems of 1-cm width at one year.

Branching: Mostly upright, with stem supports added as needed.

Growth habit: Slow 10-12 in./in. to maturity in 6 mo in 3-galloncontainer; 24 in./year.

Disease and pest resistance: No diseases nor root rot ever observed.Insects not attracted.

Cold resistance: Cover needed at temperatures below 32° F.

RELATED ART

As described in (W. B. Zomlefer, Guide to Flowering Plant Families,Univ. North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1994, p. 124; A. Huxley,ed., New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening, Vol. 4,Macmillan, London, 1992), the Begonia (Begoniaceae) comprises 900+species of usually succulent herbs, shrubs, or climbers. There are morethan 100 species and 10,000 hybrids and cultivars of Begonia cultivatedas ornamentals grown for attractive foliage and flowers.

Begonia roots are fibrous, rhizomatous, or tuberous, with the tubersbecoming dormant in the winter. The stems are often swollen,conspicuously jointed, and woody, extending up to 2 m and above.Alternatively, the stems may be soft and herbaceous, or absent, with theleaves forming a rosette at the apex of the rhizome.

Begonia leaves are alternate and petiolate, and are usually asymmetric,with one side shorter than the other, resembling an elephant's ear. Theleaves may be simple to lobed, or occasionally compound, having a marginthat is irregularly toothed, glabrous to hispid, with a surface smoothto rugose or bullate, membranous to coriaceous, often brightly markedred, purple, brown, grey, to white.

There are two stipules, often large, membranous, often persistent,sometimes caducous. Inflorescence comprises an axillary or terminal cymeor raceme, erect or pendent, with few to many flowers present. Theflowers are unisexual, with male and female adjacent in inflorescence.The flowers are sometimes dimorphic in size, with colors comprising red,pink, white, and yellow to orange, and may be bicolored and double incultivation.

The corolla segments (tepals) are 2+2 in male flowers and 2-6 infemales; they are of different sizes but are similarly colored. They aresometimes hairy externally, glabrous in the inner surface, waxy intexture, and of crystalline appearance. The stamens are numerous, massedat the center, or connate below, forming a tube, with yellow anthers.The ovary is inferior, 3-4 locular, many ovules, three styles, and freeor connate below. The stigmata are lobed and convolute, or capitate. Thefruit is a loculicidal capsule, usually winged. The seeds are verynumerous, minute, and oblong. The plants reproduce vegetatively fromgroups of small tubers, often found in the leaf axils, or byadventitious buds that readily form on detached leaves in contact withmoist soil. The buds arise on the upper leaf surface from a meristemthat develops within the callus formed over the wound.

The begonia is typically found in the tropics and subtropics, in damp,wooded areas, especially in the Americas, with most diversity in SouthAmerica. In the United States and Canada, there are two spp. of Begonia.

The majority of species in cultivation are grown as potplants, using afree-draining peat-based potting medium with a pH of 6.0-7.0 and with atleast some shade from direct sunlight. Most begonias are frost tender.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention, the ‘Star of David’ Begonia rex cultivar, is anew Begonia variety that is disease-resistant, resists root rot,tolerates freezes, is a perennial, and does not attract insects.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying colored photographs illustrate the overall appearanceof the new Begonia, showing the colors as true as it is reasonablypossible to obtain in colored reproductions of this type. Colors in thephotographs differ slightly from the color values cited in the detailedbotanical description, which accurately describes the colors of the newBegonia.

The photograph on the first sheet comprises a side perspective view of atypical juvenile, 8-wk-old plant in a 1-gal container. The large, matureflowers are beginning to open.

On the second sheet are depicted typical leaves, showing, top to bottom,a new leaf, bottom and top sides of a mature leaf, approximately 6 in.long, and top and bottom sides of a juvenile leaf.

The photographs on the third and the fourth sheets comprise sideperspective views of a mature flower cluster.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

A description of the Begonia variety of the present invention will nowbe presented. Color references are made to The Royal HorticulturalSociety Colour Chart, except where general terms of ordinary dictionarysignificance are used. Except as noted, data are from approximately10-week-old plants growing in a 1-gal container.

Botanical classification: Begonia rex hybrid.

Commercial classification: Rex Begonia.

Parentage: Stem selection of Begonia rex hybrid.

Propagation:

Type.—Stem cuttings.

Time to initiate roots.—Approximately 21-26 days year round.

Root description.—Fine, fibrous, and well-branched.

Characterization.—Vigorous and rapid growth.

Seed production.—Seed production has not been observed.

Plant description:

Plant form.—Upright and mounding stems of approximately 2 cm width atone year in a 3-gal container. Branching: Upright with horizontallyextending branches, giving fullness to plant.

Growth habit.—Vigorous growth rate to a height of 3-4 ft in 8 mo, and toa height of 5-6 ft in 1.5 yr. Growth in 3-gal container from 6-in.cuttings. Tolerates temperatures down to 32° F.; cover below 32° F.

Plant height.—Approximately 150 cm at one year (3-gal container).

Plant width.—Approximately 90 cm at one year (3-gal container).

Leaves.—Length: About 15 cm. Width: About 7 cm. Shape: Asymmetrical.Apex: Oblate. Base: Oblique. Margin: Slightly undulating, entire.Texture: Smooth. Petiole length: About 1-1.5 cm. Color, young, fullyexpanded leaves (in 1-gal container at 10 weeks): Upper surface: 137A.Lower surface: 137C. Venation: 137A, upper side; 137C, lower side.Petiole: Upper: 45A. Lower: 148B to 148C. Color, juvenile new leaves:Upper surface: 144A. Lower surface: 147C.

Stems.—Color: 138A to 138B. Color of pale spots on stems: 193A to 193B.

Flower description:

Flowering habit.—Flowering continuous. Both juvenile and adult plantshave clusters of approximately 40 flowers, with 10-25 cymes per adultplant. Filtered sunlight preferred. Time to first flowering isapproximately 2-3 weeks from a rooted cutting. Individual blooms lastapproximately 4-5 weeks.

Fragrance.—None observed.

Natural flowering season.—Year round, Southern U.S. climate;April-September, Northern U.S. climate.

Shape.—Rounded. Diameter: About 2-3 cm. Depth (height): About 2.5-3 cm.

Flower buds.—Rounded. Length: About 1-2 cm. Diameter: About 0.5 cm.Color: 51C to 51D.

Tepals.—Size: Outer (large) tepals: Length: About 1.5 cm. Width: About2.0 cm. Shape: Ovate. Apex: Obtuse. Base: Cordate. Margin: Entire.Texture: Appears smooth. Inner (small) tepals: Length: About 1.0 cm.Width: About 0.5 cm. Color: Fully opened, upper surface, 51C to 51D.Fully opened, lower surface, 51C to 51D. Shape: Elliptical. Apex:Obtuse. Base: Oblique. Margin: Entire. Texture: Appears smooth.

Peduncles.—Angle: 35-45°. Length: About 2.5-3 cm. Texture: Smooth.Color: 50A to 50B.

Pedicels.—Angle: Erect. Length: About 1.5 cm. Texture: Smooth. Color:50A to 50B.

Reproductive organs.—Number of pistils: Six per flower. Pistil length:About 0.25 cm. Anthers color: 20A to 20B. Ovaries: Inferior,three-winged. Stigma color: 17A to 17B. Styles color: 17A to 17B. Pollencolor: Small amounts of pollen observed by microscope, having color155A/B.

Disease resistance: No diseases nor root rot since discovery andpropagation. Insects not observed to be attracted. No experiments withexposure to diseases common to Begonia have been conducted.

The plant of the present invention comprises a spontaneously derivedcultivar, possibly by selection. The present plant has evolved into amuch stronger, fuller, horizontally branching flower via stem cuttings.The cuttings comprised only the strongest plants, leading to a strongerplant, which in turn was cut to form ever-stronger plants. This processwas repeated over a 20-year time span to reach the plant having thecharacteristics shown and claimed herein, leading to a plant havingimproved horizontal fullness and branching and significantly enlargedflower bunches on both adult and juvenile plants. Fecundity may also beaccomplished with leaf propagation as well as stem cuttings, and thereis neither propagation through seeds nor root propagation.

The genus and species of the present invention are Begonia rex hybrid.The habit of growth comprises a fibrous-rooted, tuberous, semperflorens,rhizomatous, rex-cultorum species. The stems are thick andcane-bamboo-like and are green with numerous pale spots. The stems,which are multiple, grow to 5 cm in width and to 8 feet tall. The vigoris characterized as very strong, with an ever-flowering productivity.The precocity is characterized as reaching 5-6 feet tall in a growthperiod of 1-2 years.

The botanical characteristics of the plant structures may becharacterized as follows: There are abundant, alternate leaves that areasymmetrically shaped, having an oblate apex and oblique base. Theleaves are not hairy, and have one side shorter than the other with nospots. The undersides of the leaves are a dull, glossy, lighter greenthan the top sides, and the leaf margins are crenate. A typical leaf isabout 15 cm long. The petiole is about 1.0-1.5 cm long.

The inflorescence is axillarily showy, dichotomously branching. Thepedicels are dark rose. The female flowers are drooping, with threebroad pink wings on the ovary. The pistil has 3 stigmata branches thatare gold-yellow, while the five tepals are pale pink. The male flowershave two large outer tepals and two small inner tepals. The male has acluster of bright gold stamens.

Other distinguishing characteristics over prior art begonias includeresistance to disease, cold, and dampness, and a year-round duration ofthe flowering season. In addition, the flowers appear to be “shielded”by the leaves (see, for example, the first sheet of photographs), whichis different from, for example, prior art begonias known to the presentInventor.

What is claimed is:
 1. A new and distinct cultivar of Begonia plantnamed ‘Star of David’, as illustrated and described.